The Olympic Rings

"The emblem chosen to illustrate and represent the world Congress of 1914...: five intertwined rings in different colours - blue, yellow, black, green, and red - are placed on the white field of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition."

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, August 1912 edition of Olympique

The Olympic Rings have been a vital part of the Olympics since the 1920's Olympic Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. At least one of the colours of the rings can be found in every countries flag around the world and therefore represents the World uniting to play the games. 

Due to restrictions upon the use of the Olympic rings I have had to email the International Olympic Committee to request the use of the rings I will report here when I hear the response but have included my email to them below.

Dear Whomever May be Concerned,

I am emailing to request permission to use the Olympic rings within some of my work. I am currently working with Frederick Gent School in Derbyshire, England on a 'Get Set' project looking at how the school can continue the Olympic Legacy into the future. The young people at the school are hoping to have a final piece that will be a seating/sculptural piece that will sit within the schools central courtyard. I myself have been brought in to complete the project and designing, as I am a local undergraduate from Nottingham Trent University and will be completing the project as part of my final degree. As the project is Olympic based I would like to have permission to use the Olympic rings within the final piece to ensure that it is clearly recognisable as an Olympic Legacy Structure. The school will continue to use this piece to award members of the school and the community for work and actions which fulfil the Olympic and Paralympic Values. 

Name:                Hannah Louise Barker

Email:                hannahbarker@hotmail.com

Organisation:    Nottingham Trent University

Context:            Sculpture (probably made of galvanised steel or copper)

Content Use:    Permanent School Sculpture

Please do let me know if you require any other information.

Kind Regards,

Hannah Barker 

Olympic and Paralympic Values

The project is based upon the 'Get Set' Government Project to produce a legacy for the 2012 Olympics. The Olympic and Paralympic Values are the foundations to ensuring fair, successful and enjoyable games for all those who compete and watch. Frederick Gent School wish to celebrate these qualities by giving awards for people throughout the school and within the community that display the values of the Games. 

These values are as follows:

Olympic Values

• Respect 
• Excellence
• Friendship

Paralympic Values

• Courage
• Determination
• Inspiration
• Equality

Therefore I want to ensure that the values that are so important to the project are maintained and shown clearly within the final piece. I want to look closely at the games, their influence and how this influence has been used within similar projects. Part of the idea of the 2012 Olympics is to ensure that the legacy is good and that at least 80% of the Olympic Games structure, content etc can be reused again. At the moment 98% is set to be reusable. I would like to ensure that the project will reflect these values and ensure that the legacy lives on for longer than just the Olympics 2012.

Queen Elizabeth Gates - Hyde Park

For those of you who have seen these gates they are a magnificent sight. Intricately shaped and swirling with leaves, flowers and all made from stainless steel and bronze. Designed by Giusseppe Lund they are designed to encompass design from the century by incorperating symetrical lower section which evolves into an organic freedom at the top.

 Giusseppe Lund has done some similarly fabulous work in other replaces across the world. I have placed some images of these below. This use of metal for the flowers, leaves, winding stems etc are a beautiful representation of nature. I believe this could work within the school setting at Frederick Gent School and has given me several ideas for the final ideas.

Inspiration from nature

Taking inspiration from nature is a common occurrence in products, whether its from jewellery to furniture design, designers often use shapes, images and materials from the nature around them to create interesting and new products, clothes, objects etc.

Using the natural curves, shapes, patterns and materials create some amazing pieces and I wish to do the same within the final piece for the sculpture. Natural objects are wonderfully diverse in the shapes and patterns they create.

Whilst out and about I always keep an eye out for anything unusual or interesting. Whilst taking my dog for a walk I found a very unusual twisting shape of some dead ivy. The way they intertwine and curl around each other could be an exciting and interesting formation for metal to twist around the outside of the lighting structure that is already there and needs to remain.

Roxy Paine

I was talking to my cousin about the project and she remembered that  there was a tree statue in Washington DC's National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. It is called 'Graft' and is designed by Roxy Paine, the piece is made from Stainless steel and weighs 16,000 pounds.

This got me looking at the artist/designer and it seems he has done a few similar pieces including 'Conjoined' in Madison Square, New York City, 'Maelstrom' on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts and 'Inversion' at the Art Basel, Switzerland.

The following video shows how 'Maelstrom' was installed on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td_NVTJaah8